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Killing marestail

KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
in Problem solving
I'd seen suggestions of spraying marestail with WD40 so thought I'd give it a try.  Sprayed about a week ago and I now have lots of black marestail, so it seems that it does work.
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  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Bet the roots are still alive tho @KT53.   Constant vigilance is needed.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • FlyDragonFlyDragon Posts: 834
    It'll come back, it always does. 

    Only thing you can really do is to just keep picking it as soon as you see the stalks emerge, when they look like this:


  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    Obelixx said:
    Bet the roots are still alive tho @KT53.   Constant vigilance is needed.

    Time will tell but I'll certainly be keeping an eye on it.
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    Some people have a result by repeating jumping on it and spraying with Glyphosate. Somewhat difficult if it's in a flower border!
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • the tidy gardenerthe tidy gardener Posts: 591
    learn to live with it!it pops up and I dig it out on my dad's garden.only in one patch tho under the conifers.its prehistoric and the roots go a long long way down.
  • Johnny CrosbyJohnny Crosby Posts: 54
    I I did as Busy  Lizzie says - squashed it by stamping, and then sprayed with glyphosphate. It comes up in my block paved drive so it wasn’t difficult. After 4 days it was shrivelled and dry so it was simple to sweep out with a stiff brush. I did the same thing last year......and the year before......and before that...... I think it will be back by the end of September.
  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    I have a lot of it to contend with.  I think the weather earlier in the year gave it the chance to establish.  Much of it is in the borders so crushing and spraying isn't really practical.  I'll attack more with the WD40 and hold some card behind the marestail to stop it getting on other plants.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Constantly hoeing off any as soon as it appears is one of the best methods. Certainly before it reaches fruiting stage [as in the pic above] to keep weakening it, but it's an ongoing battle if you already have it. I don't have any in this garden but I had it in the garden round the corner, and hoeing the stuff from next door that made it's way in was pretty effective. Bl**dy nuisance though.  
    Crushing the green foliage before applying weedkiller helps get it into the whole system, but again, it's a constant process. Resolva acts far more quickly than any other weedkiller IME. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • DahliadelightsDahliadelights Posts: 63
    my husband and I were admiring a 'plant' on a recent walk along the edge of a field before realising it was marestail! Have never seen it grown so high and in such abundance.  It was pretty magnificent actually... looked almost like bamboo.  
  • Paul B3Paul B3 Posts: 3,154
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equisetum_myriochaetum

    Imagine having a garden full of this to contend with ! Amazing plants though that can only be admired for their tenacity over time .
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